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Sběratel.info

News Bulletin No. 4

World known mints are returning

Every year, at its large stand the firm Schoeler Münzhandel from Vienna offers coins from several of the world's mints. This year will be no exception. As director Elmar Schmid confirmed for us, this year visitors will have a chance to buy new items from the following mints: British Royal Mint, Die Deutschen Münzprägestätten, Mint of Finland, Monnaie de Paris, Münze Österreich, Royal Australian Mint, Royal Canadian Mint, Royal Dutch Mint and South African Mint. The Swiss Mint and United States Mint are still in negotiations. The firm Schoeller Münzhandel is very active at the trade fair Collector, as it is on the entire Czech market, and several years ago it even established a customer centre in the Czech Republic.

Great interest of Portugal Post

Last year for the first time the Portugal Post made a presentation at the trade fair, and apart from its activity of regular issues, it also offered philatelic material associated with the Euro football competition. This year the Portugal Post will be back at the trade fair, and once again it will have beautiful postage and revenue stamps. As the director of the philately department Luis M. Andrade, confirmed, the post has a tremendous interest in cooperation with philatelic traders and collectors in the Czech Republic and in the entire central European region. This year they will continue issuing stamps commemorating the football championship (for example, in the shape of a football). Shortly before the finale, it has a great surprise prepared. A stamp prepared for the occasion of the accession of ten countries to the European Union will be of interest for our philatelists.

The trade fair is once again being held under the aegis of the Czech Numismatic Society.

Consultants of the Czech Numismatic Society have appraised several tens of thousands of coins, medals, bank notes, orders and decorations which visitors have brought over the last six years of the trade fair. The society, which has forty branches throughout the republic, accepted patronage of the trade fair during the first event in 1998, and every year it helps collectors and amateurs to appraise the material they bring free of charge. And every year the CNS also enriches the trade fair with an accompanying exhibition. Last year it was the Greatest Inflation in the History of Man (Hungary), in the year 2002 it consisted of a collection of Bills of Exchange, and three years ago it was medals issued by the society since 1924.

Japanese association at trade fair for first time

In last year's last edition of the German magazine TeleSammler, which focuses on collecting telephone cards, there was a two-page item praising the last Collector trade fair, because the Prague trade fair is one of the events where there is still a representative offer of telephone cards. And so both buyers and sellers enjoy Prague. News of the success of the trade fair has reached as far as Japan. The result is an application from the Association of Collectors of Japanese Telephone Cards which was sent from Tokyo to the organisers for this year's event by the president of the association, Hidetaka Matsuda.

Czech Post at trade fair

Česká pošta s.p. (Czech Post) was patron of the trade fair Collector during its second annual event in 1999, and one year before this it was one of the co-organisers of the international exhibition Praga, which is held in the Czech capital once every ten years. At the Collector trade fair, its stand is one of the largest, and in addition to the sale of philatelic material, at the stand it also ensures commemorative rubber stamping and other services for philatelists. Last year the Czech Post (OZ DOS Postfila) issued its own category A postcard for the trade fair for the first time.

Kremnica Mint with new items

This year the Slovak Kremnica Mint will exhibit for the third time at the Collector trade fair. For this year it is preparing many new stamping, be they commemorative coins or medals. For example, upon the occasion of the accession of Slovakia to the European Union, the mint is preparing a commemorative bimetal coin (gold, platinum) with a value of ten thousand Slovak crowns, a commemorative silver medal with a value of SKK 200 and medals in silver and gold. All items will be issued in May.

More mineral this year

This year more firms will be joining the traditional exhibitors in the field of mineralogy such as the firms Mineral Metal and Mineral & Gem Collection. After several years the firm Mine Art is returning to the trade fair, and for the first time at Collector the firms Luboš Poděbradský and Jiří Špalek will be exhibiting. Visitors will thus have the possibility of choosing not only from a broad range of minerals and fossils, but primarily from amongst jewellery made from natural materials and precious stones, pearls, corals and diamonds.